July 1971, I was taking a summer class in Black-American literature on the campus of SUNY Oneonta in northern New York. Professor James walked into the classroom and announced that he had invited a special guest to class, but his guest was delayed. The class stirred with curiosity and anticipation.
“Who’s coming?” someone asked.
“All I will tell you is that he is the author of one of the books you have read for this class,” he said. “I need a volunteer to meet him in the hall of the administration building and take him here.”
To my amazement, my right hand shot up as though it had a mind of its own. “What am I doing?” I thought. I never volunteered for anything. I was shy and uncomfortable meeting new people. In fact, I was absolutely the wrong person for this job. Realizing my mistake, I pulled my hand down quickly, but it was too late.
“Thank you, David,” Professor James said. “You’d better leave now. He’ll be arriving any minute.”
Seeing no way to back out, I reluctantly got out of my seat and headed for the classroom door. When I reached it, I stopped.
“Umm,” I said. “If I don’t know who this person is, how will I recognize him? I’d hate to bring back the wrong guy.”
Professor James laughed. “Good point,” he said. He pulled me aside and whispered a name in my ear. “Alex Haley,” he said.
“Really?” I said. I gave a thumbs-up to the class and left the room.
As I entered the empty hallway, I criticized myself for volunteering. “Why didn’t you let someone else do this?” Alex Haley was the author of The Autobiography (自传) of Malcolm X. He was also famous for his diligence, perseverance and in-depth thinking.
As I walked across the campus, my anxiety grew. I feared that I was about to embarrass myself in front of this famous gentleman by asking stupid questions, or worse, accompanying him in painful silence. I reached the front steps and climbed them slowly.
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150 左右;
2.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
As I pulled open the heavy glass door, I realized why I raised my hand to volunteer for this job.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“I’d like to become a writer, but I don’t know if I have the talent,” I said.
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